


Time After Time

by supreme_genius



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-09
Updated: 2014-07-09
Packaged: 2018-02-08 01:52:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1922253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supreme_genius/pseuds/supreme_genius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If you fall I will catch you / I'll be waiting / Time after time</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time After Time

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Marvel or any characters.  
> I only own my ridiculous ideas.  
> Title is from a Cyndi Lauper song of the same name.

It’s no secret that Clint Barton is _not_ good with women and relationships. In fact, he has quite the propensity for fucking things up. Ask any woman he’s ever been with; they’ll all tell you the same thing.

There’s only one relationship, with one woman, that Clint hasn’t yet managed to ruin. Kate Bishop: the other half of the Hawkeye duo and the only woman to ever cross paths with Clint Barton and still tell you he’s a good guy. He’s not sure how he’s managed it, but he’s always been able to make things work with Kate.

Any time Clint gets kicked to the curb, he goes running back to Kate. Any time Clint gets in over his head, he calls Kate for help. Any time Clint fucks up, Kate is there to clean up the mess.

When Kate comes back to New York, after a fairly unpleasant stay in LA, and, once again, saves Clint’s ass, things start to change. Kate has nightmares – all of which are about finding Clint dead. She starts sleeping less; running on coffee and any other caffeine she can get her hands on. It’s only been a month, but everyone around her can see that something is wearing on her. She’s a shell of her former self, hollowed out by a case hitting too close to home.

For once, it’s Clint that calls her out. He’s usually the last to notice things like this, but after everything that happened to her in LA and to him in New York, he watches her more closely, barely ever leaves her side.

“Hey, Katie-Kate.” Clint walks into the kitchen and goes to pour himself a cup of coffee, but finds nothing but an empty carafe. “We’re out of coffee.”

“Yeah.” Kate looks up; her eyes are bloodshot and ringed by dark circles.

Clint frowns and slides into the chair next to her. “Katie, what’s going on?”

Kate raises an eyebrow. “Nothing?”

“C’mon. I know you better than that, Hawkeye. Something’s wrong. What is it?”

Kate doesn’t say anything, just looks away. It’s not like she’s going to say _Well, Hawkeye, I’m having nightmares about coming home from LA to find you dead in a myriad of different ways. So, I’ve decided to just, well, not sleep. Or sleep as little as I possibly can. Because losing you is my worst fear._

Clint sighs as he reaches for her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. “Fine. If you don’t want to tell me, don’t. But… you know I’m here for you, Katie.” He leans over and presses a light kiss to her temple. When he makes to move away, Kate’s hand tightens in his and pulls him back. After he sits back down, this time pulling the chair closer, Kate leans against his chest, hiding her face in the crook of his neck. Clint lets go of her hand, but only to wrap his arms around her.

“I can’t sleep,” she whispers, the words fading into his t-shirt. “Every time I try…it’s like reliving it…but worse.”

Clint wraps his arms a little more tightly around her. “I’m sorry,” he mumbles.

Taking him up on his offer, Kate lets Clint sleep in her bed tonight. He’d said maybe if he was there, she would sleep better or, at least, not go into a panic. It was weird, having Clint in her bed, but it was also comforting. Curling up against his chest, feeling his arms wrapped tightly around her made her feel safe.

It’s just after two in the morning when Clint feels Kate’s hands fist in his shirt. He’d been trying to stay awake in case she needed him, but dozed off a few times. He waits, not shaking her awake yet. Her hands are fisted in his shirt, but she doesn’t seem to be in distress – she isn’t making any pained sounds, there aren’t tears sneaking passed closed eyelids. Clint just runs a light hand down her back, tracing little circles and swirls. Kate’s hands loosen their grip, but don’t let go completely. Clint presses a light kiss to her head and lets his eyes fall shut again.

When the sun starts peeking through the blinds, Clint’s eyes flutter open and he groans at the intrusive light. _Aww, sun, no_ , he thinks. Then Kate’s wiggling around, murmuring sleepy, strung-together words into Clint’s shirt, and trying to keep the sun from her eyes. It’s no use: the sun just won’t go away. When Clint looks at the clock, he sees it’s already nine in the morning.

“Katie-Kate, it’s already nine. Think we overslept.”

“Day off,” she mumbles.

With a shrug, Clint settles back in, burying his face in the crook of Kate’s neck. But then Kate’s jumping up, her eyes wide and mouth agape.

“What? Are you alright?”

“I…Clint, I slept through the night.”

“Oh.” He smiles.

She leans over to kiss his cheek and then jumps out of bed. “Ya know, Barton. You give good sleep.” She winks at him. “Consider this an open offer to sleep here whenever you want,” she says before disappearing into the bathroom.

 _An open offer? Okay…this could be bad._ Despite his thoughts, Clint finds himself asleep in Kate’s bed more often than not, at least for the next few weeks, until they’re both feeling better, strong enough to join the rest of the team on missions. Then the nights they fall asleep closely curled together are few and far between. Kate’s nightmares have ceased, but for some reason she actually misses having Clint with her all night.

A few months – and another failed relationship for Clint – later, Clint’s sitting in his bed, unable to sleep. He keeps checking the clock, counting the hours of sleep he can still get if he falls asleep right this minute. Before he even realizes, before he can stop himself, he’s walking down the hall and knocking on Kate’s door.

When Kate opens the door, her hair is up in a disastrous bun – clearly mussed from sleeping – and wearing only a tank top and panties. She opens her mouth intending to yell at Clint for waking her up at this ungodly hour, but just groans instead. As she’s walking back to her bed, Clint grabs her hand and pulls her close, holding her against his chest.

“Gonna fall ‘sleep like this,” she mumbles into his shirt.

“Sorry.”

Kate yawns and rubs her eyes. “What’re you doing here?” She asks, not bothering to move to far away.

“Just, uh…” He pushes a stray piece of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear.

“C’mon,” she says and pulls him towards her bed.

It’s been two months and sixteen days since the last time Clint slept in her bed – not that either of them were counting. Clint had come knocking about a month ago, but Kate didn’t bother getting up. She didn’t mind him there, but she could only imagine how his girlfriend would feel. She wasn’t going to be _that girl_.

Clint makes it to the edge of the bed before he stops. Kate turns and raises a brow at him. He wants this, wants to just go back to those nights where he curled around Kate, kept her safe from the invisible monsters. He hated seeing her in pain, but he liked being what she needed, liked being the one to dry her tears.

“Katie-Kate, I miss you.”

“I’m right here.”

“I know.” Clint _does_ know. Kate is always there when he needs her. Even when he told her to leave, she still came back to save him and clean up the mess he made. He reaches back out to her and pulls her close again, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

“Clint, we have to stop this. We can’t keep dancing around this.”

Clint sighs and pulls away just enough to look down at Kate. “I know. I just… any time something goes wrong in my life, I run to you. You’re the only constant I got.”

“What about the team?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Oh. _Oh._ ”

“You’re my safe place to land,” Clint says quietly, almost embarrassed.

Kate scoffs. “Maybe if you’d stop jumping off buildings, you wouldn’t need a place to land.”

“I’m serious, Kate.” He sighs. “As long as you’re there for me to run to, I’m going to keep running to you.”

“I told you, Hawkeye; I’m not going anywhere.” Kate cups his jaw with one hand, running her thumb over his bottom lip. “You know I’m always gonna be here to clean up your messes. So if you fall, I’ll catch you.”

“I know.” He sighs. “Damn it. I should just… I should go.” Clint lets his arms fall away from her and tries to move away.

“No, wait.” Kate pulls him back and presses her lips to his.

Clint pulls away again. "I can’t. I just...I fuck everything up. Every relationship I’ve ever been in. I’ve hurt enough people. Not you, Katie-Kate. Can't do that to you." 

"Yeah, but you know what the difference is, between me and the other relationships you've fucked up?"

"What's that?"

"I already know you fuck up. I'm already expecting it. I know you're not perfect and I'm not asking you to be. I'm just asking you to be Clint. That's always been good enough for me.”

 


End file.
